There is nothing like fathers and daughters. Howard Pettys knows that all to well. He raised six of them, along with four boys.
"It is unnatural. A child should not go before a parent," said Howard Pettys.
Sadly, he learned life's hardest lesson. So did his children and grandchildren. Nine lost a sister. Thirty eight lost an aunt.
"She lit up the room. You felt like you were a better person for meeting her," said her sister Denise Hillery.
Mary Pettys was coming home from a business trip in New Jersey on flight 3407. Coming home to a family where she had a lot of responsibility. Self imposed.
"My mother passed away three years ago. She kind of took up my mother's role," added Denise.
"She was very good with all of them. After my wife passed away Mary was like the mother," added Howard.
If you need an example of perseverance during tragedy, look no further than this picture. The Pettys are a reminder to all of us that there really is strength in numbers. All 10 kids, and 35 of the 38 nieces and nephews made sure they were together this Christmas, after the death of a family member known to them as Belle. It was the little acts that they did for each other, without being asked, that helped them get through.
"We had this family tradition on crazy black friday. Shopping with Belle. I made sure I went with my sister Mo, because it was so hard for her not to have Belle on her side," said Denise.
Mary Pettys is someone who strangers took too, who made friends in line on black friday. She was fifty, and was getting married in June, respected in the health care community. Denise Hillery admits this has been hard, and feels at times like a different person since her sister died.
"We were brought up in a very faithful catholic upbringing, and without my faith I couldn't be where we are today, and my brothers and sisters and fathers support," added
The family is also involved with the efforts to strengthen rules for pilots. Two of Denise's siblings live in the DC area. They are attending the hearings, and everyone else is monitoring them back here.
"We will do what she should want us to do, and that is to get these regulations passed so the air is safe to fly, and no family member should ever get through heartache that we have been through," added Denise.
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